Laura E. Beazell Andres papers

Laura Edith Beazell (Andres) was born in Noble County in the town of Ligonier, Indiana, on August 3, 1868. She was the middle child of three siblings born to William Neal Beazel and Martha Jane McKenzie Beazel. She attended Ligonier High School and graduated in 1885. After high school, Laura taught at an Illinois county school. She then attended DePauw University from 1890-1893.

At DePauw, Laura was part of the Asbury College of Liberal Arts. She participated in a bi-weekly dancing club in 1891, wrote for The DePauw Weekly student newspaper in 1893, and was the president of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in 1892. She was also a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity. Beazell did not graduate from DePauw due to her poor health.

When she was well enough, she became more involved with the YWCA. She served as the organization’s general secretary in Sacramento, state secretary for Missouri in 1897, and later as a state secretary for Wisconsin. She then traveled to Rome in 1900 to teach at a Methodist girls’ school for the Methodist Board of Missions. Her mission work in Rome was unfulfilling, so she decided to take a ship back to the United States. On the ship she met Frederick (“Fritz”) Henry Andres, whom she would later marry.

Laura returned to Rome to work for a school and home for orphans and poor children, where she felt more fulfillment in her work as a missionary. In late December of 1903, Fritz and Laura married in Rome. A few days after they married, they traveled to Alexandria, Egypt. They spent five years in Egypt and then moved to Boston. Laura and Fritz had four children: a boy named F. William Andres and three girls, Martha Andres Bradford, Anita Andres Ward, and Grace Andres Maier.

Laura lived in the suburbs of Boston in Arlington, Massachusetts, where she spent the last forty-six years of her life. She died at age eighty in her home on September 20, 1948.

Sources:

Find a Grave. “Laura Edith Beazell Andres (1868-1948).”

Laura E. Beazell Andres papers. DePauw University Archives and Special Collections. Greencastle, Indiana.

Mirage Yearbook. DePauw University. 1893. DePauw University Archives and Special Collections. Greencastle, Indiana.

MyHeritage. “Laura Beazel - U.S. Yearbooks Name Index, 1890-1979.”

Personals. The Evangel 9, no. 73 (November 1895). 20. YWCA of the U.S.A. records. Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History. Smith College. Northampton, Massachusetts.

This biographical note was created by Aisha Arias and Kayla Knuth as part of the HIST278: Women's History from 1890-Present course during the fall 2024 semester. It was revised by Professor Sarah Rowley and the Coordinator of Archives and Special Collections Bethany Fiechter.